Pawan Agrawal Managing Director Nepal Overseas Marketing Company (P) Ltd. Turnover: Rs. 220 million per annum Employees: 70

Pawan Agrawal started in business in 1983 with a capital of Rs. 50,000 and now handles a turnover of about Rs. 220 million per year dealing in some well-known brands such as Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Wella and Nokia. What are the his plans next?

Surprisingly, he says, ‘No further plans.’ He does not want to go on expanding his portfolio in trading. Neither does he want to venture into manufacturing. But does it not sound unusual for a businessman to not harbour an ambition to expand his business?

‘I may lose focus if I expand into many brands.’ Is his answer explaining the reason.

He has not taken bank loans for his business and neither does he intend to. This is again something unusual. ‘If you start borrowing, you may start overspending and going into risky businesses due to the easy money. I have seen people get ruined because of that kind of easy money. I believe in cutting my coat according to my cloth.’ He answers. ‘I don’t go into a business just because it is profitable.’

The Start

Though his family already had a business based in Birganj, upon coming to Kathmandu and completing his MBA from Delhi University with specialisation in marketing, Pawan Kumar Agrawal wanted to start something of his own. He spent around 40 litres of petrol per day while looking around for areas with good business prospects. During this process he noticed that the importers of consumer goods brought in articles from traders in Hong Kong and Singapore. There were no Nepali dealers for the manufacturers of these goods though there were dealers in vehicles and similar other products.

So he struck upon an idea: Why not take a dealership of such goods directly from the manufacturers? Though his relatives here advised him against starting that as it was something that no one else had tried before, he was adamant. ‘Because that was exactly what I wanted to do - something new that no one else has dared to do.’

He then partnered with a friend who also had the same name – Pawan Kumar Agrawal. He borrowed Rs. 50,000 from his grandfather and his partner put in another Rs. 50,000. With this sum of Rs. 1,00,000 and some more borrowed from others, he went to Hong Kong while his friend stayed in Kathmandu to manage the domestic front.

It was not easy to get the dealership of big manufacturers right away and so he started sending gift items, toys and lighting goods (those were selling very well here then) by air. However, he did something new: he purchased directly from the manufacturers instead of buying the goods from the dealers. He selected those items that were available at heavily discounted price. Such goods included those that the manufacturers had stopped producing because of change in design. However, even the old designs would be selling very well in Nepal. This way the profit margin for him was very high.

After three or four years of doing business in this way by air freighting the goods, he started buying containers and shipping them thus saving on freight. He focused on emergency lights as these were the quick selling items here due to the frequent power cuts.

Finally, in 1988 (to be precise it was on 8/8/1988 as he cannot forget the unusual combination of numbers), he signed a contract with Nivia for dealership, thus becoming the first firm to be an authorised dealer for an international brand FMCG in Nepal. Soon another similar contract was signed for the dealership of Unilever products and some other companies. Other Nepali business firms too followed the trend. ‘After us, a wave of signing dealerships started in Nepal.’ He recalls.

Meanwhile the partnership had to be broken. The reason was that as Unilever and Nivia were competitors internationally neither of them liked their dealer to deal in the others’ goods.

The way in which the two Pawans split up is quite interesting. ‘We prepared a list of brands we were dealing in. Then we divided them into two lists ensuring that the business volume of the brands in both the lists matched. We also did the same with the people working with us and the assets we had. When both of us agreed that the contents of both of the lists were equal in all respects, we tossed a coin to decide which list would belong to whom and parted ways as two happy friends.’ According to him, it took only about ten minutes to finalise the split. 

Now he has 45 distributors across the country though his company also deals directly with some key accounts such as department stores. 

Personal Side

Agrawal believes in the importance of balancing work and enjoyment. He enjoys travelling and reading books. He has already travelled to Muktinath, Khumbu area, Gosain Kunda and Kailash Mansarovar. He says that he has trekked all the way from Haridwar to Srinagar. ‘ I’m on the move around 15 days a month,’ he says showing a record that since January 2004 till early November he has flown 80 times for business or for pleasure. He says that around 30% of his earnings is spent on travelling.

How is it that he still manages to have time for his business? ‘By making decisions in time,’ he says and adds, ‘though you may make wrong decisions in haste, you learn a lot and your decisions will not be as wrong in the future.’

As an avid book lover, he buys around 7-8 books every month and they are mostly on philosophy such as on the Upanishads, Vastu, astrology and travelling. About his interest on Vastu, he says, ‘It is about balancing yourself and your environment. Your work is affected by your environment and Vastu guides you to design your work environment in a way that helps you keep a balanced mind.’

He wants to look good and opt for branded clothes and accessories. Does not go to big parties and is back home by 9:30 PM. Gets up by 5:30 in the morning and spends some hours in the club exercising and performing yoga.

In business, he is not much concerned about what his competitors are doing. ‘If I’m doing things right, the activities of the competitors will not make much of a difference to my business. Though my volumes may increase or decrease due to some activities of the competitors, it will be only a short-term phenomenon,’ he says.